Who we are

Engaging with the local community is not a new concept for Sellafield Ltd, historically there have been a number of forums designed to enable members of local communities adjacent to the nuclear licensed sites to scrutinise the work of the nuclear operators.

The first group was created in the 1940’s – named accordingly to reflect the nuclear licensed site at the time – The Windscale Local Liaison Committee.  

In 1981 the Windscale Licensed Site was re-branded as the Sellafield Site and the liaison group became the Sellafield Local Liaison Committee.

The Sellafield Local Liaison Committee transitioned into the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group in 2005 when the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was created and became the owners of Sellafield Ltd, at this point the Low-Level Waste Repository became a separate nuclear licensed site from Sellafield.

The purpose of the group has always remained the same, to ensure members of the public and local communities are able to ask questions and challenge the work of the site owners, (Currently NDA), the authorities that regulate the sites (ONR and EA) and the operators of the sites, Sellafield Ltd and Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) providing public scrutiny of the nuclear industry in West Cumbria.

The WCSSG is an independent body and includes representatives from local government, regulators, union representatives, town and parish councils and emergency services to name a few.

All of our meetings are open to members of the public and are generally held in locations that are freely accessible to members of the public and press.

Since COVID, a number of our meetings are held virtually so it is recommended that you check the calendar of events or the working group pages for further details.

Message from the committee

Working Groups

NWS Working Group Sellafield Working Group Enablers Working Group Environmental Health Working Group Risk and Hazard Reduction and Waste Management Working Group Emergency Planning Working Group West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group